The Importance of Being Earnest

In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the movement of the two main characters, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, from the city to the countryside plays an important role in the literary work. Both of these men partake in two opposite lives as individuals. Through these characters, of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, synonymously Earnest, and their journeys, the hypocritical and contradicting standards and attitudes of society are revealed.

            Jack Worthing is a respectable figure in Hertfortshire: he is guardian of his niece Cecily. Jack Worthing is viewed as a mature man, and to escape the constant stress and expectations that coincide with this “picture-perfect” stereotype, he morphs into Earnest whenever he travels to London. In London, Jack lives vicariously through the alias of Earnest, loving Gwendolen Fairfax, who lusts after the name Earnest. In order to upkeep the validity of his double life, Jack lies to his niece and his love, misleading Cecily to believe he is taking care of his younger brother Earnest in London, and misleading Gwendolen to believe that Jack himself is indeed Earnest. His travels end up blending together into a pool of contradictions, and when confrontation results, his situation can be translated to the manners and hypocrisy of the Victorian period, with persuasions and misguided identities and the urgency to fit in.

            Algernon Moncrieff is Jack Worthing’s best friend, and also goes by Ernest in different situations. He is a "Bunberry." The persona of Ernest provides him with a relief from his stresses of the Victorian period and also allows for him to have a relationship with Jack’s niece Cecily who has fantasized of this character of Earnest. The travels that both Jack and Algernon endure throughout the literary work play an important role to the meaning of the work as a whole, as they highlight the faults of the Victorian period. There are contradicting values of falseness, with the lies that both Algernon and Jack tell and there is also the necessity to fit in to impress another person.